Fire Hits Redevelopment Site of Former Forest Acres Mall in $100M Project
A blaze erupted at the demolition site of Richland Mall in Forest Acres, a $100 million redevelopment project, on Monday afternoon. Smoke billowed from one of the mall’s sections, where the fire originated shortly after 3:30 p.m.
The cause of the fire has been attributed to sparks from an area where workers were engaged in cutting metal, said Columbia City Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins. Both lanes of Forest Drive, the street fronting the mall site, were temporarily blocked as city firefighters worked to douse the flames. Responders from Forest Acres police and EMS also arrived on the scene.
“The fire started on the third floor of one of the sections, but fortunately nothing collapsed,” Jenkins reported. “There was pretty good fire showing at the location and we had seven engines respond to the scene. Fortunately no workers or firefighters were injured.”
The fire was successfully controlled within about 30 minutes, and regular traffic resumed around 5:30 p.m. As of now, there are no indications that the fire will disrupt the ongoing demolition work.
Futuristic Redevelopment Plan
Demolition of the old mall commenced in March. It made way for the site’s future transformation into an open-air mixed-use complex, as first announced in November 2022. Southeastern Development of Augusta, Ga., is handling the $100 million redevelopment plan for the site.
A company spokesperson revealed that the demolition of the mall’s 930,000-square-foot concrete structure would likely take about a year. Once completed, the future site will become a 32-acre mixed-use property featuring retail, a brewery or taproom, green space, a grocery store, and apartments.
In conjunction with the redevelopment deal, the City of Forest Acres purchased six acres of land behind the mall. Plans are currently underway to develop a sizeable park on the purchased land.
